Ethics Bowl demonstrates real-world applications of philosophy see FEATURES / PAGE 4
MEN’S BASEBALL
Jumbos beat 3 teams to close out home stretch
Men’s tennis faces stiff competition against NESCAC foes see SPORTS / BACK PAGE
SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE
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T HE T UFTS DAILY
VOLUME LXXVII, ISSUE 54
Thursday, April 18, 2019
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.
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Controversial incidents prompts student outcry, administration response by Alexander Thompson and Alejandra Carrillo
News Editor and Assistant News Editor
After a series of incidents across campus, including eggings and vandalism, stoked controversy among students, senior administration officials responded in a campus-wide email last Friday outlining their support for an accepting campus culture. The incidents mentioned in the email, titled “Affirming our Values and Support for Students,” included a series of eggings that took place over the last weekend in March, pro-Trump slogans painted on the Cannon and the removal of Students for Justice in Palestine’s (SJP) posters from the the Tisch Library steps. Dean of Student Affairs Mary Pat McMahon, Chief Diversity Officer Robert Mack and Executive Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity Jill Zellmer signed the email, which was sent out the evening of April 12. The email comes in the wider context a number of identity-based incidents this year, including the posting of white supremacist flyers in November 2018 and the antisemitic flyering of Hillel in January. According to Mark Keith, deputy chief of the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD), the first egging of a Tufts affiliate took place on the night of March 29, followed by another the next day and a third on the March 31. Keith also said that TUPD had been informed second-hand of another possible egging of a non-Tufts affiliate that took place some time during the night of March 28 or the morning of March 29. There may have been a second egging
on Sunday, as a two groups of Tufts students wrote in separate Facebook posts that they were attacked on the afternoon of March 31 at different locations. MJ Griego, a senior, wrote in a public post on Facebook shortly before 12:30 p.m. on March 31 that Griego and two friends had been at the Boston Avenue Dunkin’ Donuts when an individual driving a “dark grey/black SUV” threw an egg which hit one of their friends, who was not injured. Griego noted in the post, as did the email from the administration, that March 31 was International Transgender Day of Visibility, and that their two friends are transgender. In a content warning for the post, Griego called the incident “antitrans violence” and “transmisogyny.” At 3:13 p.m. that same afternoon, Shaikat Islam, a sophomore, published a public Facebook post including photos of shattered eggs, in which he wrote he had been egged on Curtis Street in front the Muslim House at 3 p.m. and that he would be filing a police report. Both Griego and Islam did not respond to multiple requests for interviews. The Daily was unable to verify the identities of the other individuals who reported to TUPD that they were attacked. Keith said that after “four to five” days TUPD was able to identify a suspect in the eggings thanks to eyewitnesses. The TUPD investigation revealed no common background or identity between the targets or evidence concerning the motivation of the attack. Mack said that he was not aware of any proof that the eggings were targeted based on identity.
“Is it possible that our students were attacked just out of time and location, yes. And is possible that they were targeted and it was a hate crime, yes, but there’s no way for me to know that,” he said. After the suspect was identified, TUPD then filed for what is known as a “showcause” hearing against the suspect in Somerville District Court which will occur on May 20, according to Keith. A “showcause” hearing is carried out before a clerk magistrate to determine if there is sufficient probable cause to issue someone with a criminal charge. As the suspects have yet to be charged pending the hearing, Keith declined to name the suspects. The administration email claimed that TUPD had filed a complaint of assault against the suspects, which is not strictly correct. This was confirmed by review of relevant filings in the Somerville District Court by the Daily. The Cannon, which had been painted in honor of those killed in the Great March of Return by SJP, was painted over with “TRUMP 2020” and “#MAGA” in large red letters on April 1, according to Marley Hillman, a member of Green Dot. The Daily was unable to confirm the identity of the perpetrator. Members of Green Dot, an organization that focuses on building a safer community by working to prevent sexual assault on campus, painted over the political message with one in support of sexual assault survivors, according to its website. However, the Cannon was later defaced once again with messages in support of Trump.
“MAGA was painted in such a way that it was clear what they were covering up … what message they intended to stifle,” Hillman, a sophomore, said. They criticized the university’s delayed response to the series of incidents. “I think that it [email] came roughly 10 days too late,” Hillman said. “I feel that by bundling the three incidents, the Cannon painting, the eggings and the SJP posters getting ripped down, into one minimizes the importance of each incident and the severity of each of them individually.” They also believe a culture of hostility against survivors remains at Tufts. Mack defended the administration’s decision to respond to all of the incidents in one email. “To name those in one email felt appropriate, it didn’t require separate email communication for each individual component,” he said. In addition to the painting over of the Cannon, posters advertising events by SJP, the same student organization who had first painted the Cannon, were found ripped in half on the Tisch Library steps. Parker Breza, a member of SJP, said the incident was malicious. “It was clear that they [posters] had been ripped intentionally because all the other posters which were put up at around the same time were perfectly intact and perfectly fine,” Breza, a senior, said. SJP later put up new posters again in the same place and once again found that they had been torn and ripped off the wall.
see EGGINGS, page 2
Admissions accepts largest class yet, hosts Jumbo Days for prospective students
by Austin Clementi
News Editor
This year, Tufts Admissions has accepted its largest class yet. Applicants to Tufts received their admissions offers on March 28, according to the Tufts Admissions website. Dean of Admissions Karen Richardson said 14.6% of those who applied were admitted — the same acceptance rate as last year. “The admitted group includes an increase in the number of BFA [Bachelor of Fine Arts] students we hope to enroll for the SMFA [School of the Museum of Fine Arts] campus
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as well as an attempt to account for incoming students who will opt to do the new Civic Semester program as well as students who will do 1+4 or gap year programs,” Richardson said in an email to the Daily, referring to the new semester-long program which allows first-years to complete their first semester overseas and earn credit. According to TuftsNow, 22,725 students applied to join the Class of 2023, reflecting a 5.7% increase in applications from last year. With an acceptance rate of 14.6%, approximately 3,318 students were accepted, also an increase from last year. For breaking news, our content archive and exclusive content, visit tuftsdaily.com @tuftsdaily
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In the email, Richardson explained that Admissions bases yield projections on several factors, such as the yield rate for each individual program in previous years. “It’s not an exact science, and there are external factors (such as whether our peer schools over- or under-enroll) that can affect what our yield will be. That’s where the wait list can come into play,” Richardson said. Richardson also gave several statistics on the accepted class, which had a mean SAT composite score of 1477 and a mean ACT of 33.5. Forty-nine percent of the accepted applicants to the School of Arts and Sciences
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were male; in the School of Engineering 46% of accepted students were male. According to Richardson, the new class represents 65 countries, 49 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. More than half the class attended public high schools, and 12% identify as first-generation students. Among statistics that she found interesting, Richardson said that she was pleased by an increase in the number of domestic students of color for this year.
NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................4 ARTS & LIVING.......................6
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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Thursday, April 18, 2019
THE TUFTS DAILY Elie Levine Editor in Chief
EDITORIAL
David Levitsky Anita Ramaswamy Managing Editors Luke Allocco Jessica Blough Austin Clementi Charlie Driver Jenna Fleischer Juliana Furgala Kat Grellman Abbie Gruskin Liza Harris Zachary Hertz Gil Jacobson Rachael Meyer Catherine Perloff Seohyun Shim Alexander Thompson Hannah Uebele Joe Walsh Alejandra Carrillo Robert Kaplan Noah Richter Jilly Rolnick Grace Yuh Costa Angelakis Jenna Fleischer Sean Ong Michael Shames Fina Short Sidharth Anand Amelia Becker Mark Choi Sarah Crawford Mitch Lee Ellie Murphy Ananya Pavuluri
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continued from page 1 “This has been a priority for us, and I think the increase is a nod to the diversity and inclusion work that’s happening on this campus — word is getting out,” she said. In thinking about the new class, Richardson said she was excited to host Jumbo Days to give prospective students and Early Decision students a chance to see the campus. According to Matthew Alander, the director of outreach for Tufts Admissions, Jumbo Days are set for April 12, 18 and 19. “Jumbo Days provide admitted students with a chance to develop a much deeper and detailed appreciation for Tufts and to help them envision what it will be like to be part of our community,” Alander said in an email to the Daily. Alander added that over 1,000 admitted students, their families included, registered for each day. Students admitted through Regular Decision also had the opportunity to stay with on-campus hosts the night before each Jumbo Day. According to Alander, around 100 students are registered to stay each night. Highlighting some of the programming that would take place for students attending Jumbo Days, Alander listed some mock classes that students would have the option of attending, such as Psychology and the Law, taught by psychology Professor Sam Sommers and Understanding Russia: The Story of War, taught by International Literary and Cultural Studies Professor Greg Carleton. “In addition to mock classes, parents and families will hear from Dean of Student Affairs staff, a presentation by the Career Center and have the opportunity to visit various centers on campus, including Hillel, the Chaplaincy and the Group of Six,” Alander said, adding that the
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Karen Richardson, the dean of Admissions, poses for a portrait in Bendetson Hall on April 4. whole day ends with a student activities fair. During the April 12 student activities fair, several student groups and pre-orientation programs presented their activities to hundreds of prospective students. Isabella Bianchi, a student who applied Early Decision, recounted her experiences that day. “We started off with an orientation where some people gave some speeches, and then we got separated and I went to a class,” Bianchi said. “[Then] we got together and went to a panel for engineering projects, we went to lunch, and [we] met with a current student at lunch.” Cora Kakalec, another student who applied Early Decision, said she went to two
classes: a class titled Psychology and the Law and another about a Japanese author. “They were both really interesting, and the professors were super engaging,” Kakalec said, adding that she was excited to attend Tufts. “These admitted student open houses are the perfect opportunity to showcase the campus and the community, and we’re always grateful to current Tufts students for helping us yield future Jumbos!” Richardson said in her email. Alander echoed Richardson’s sentiment, paying particular attention to student hosts. “We are grateful to our current students who offer to host our overnight guests and to giving them a peek into student life,” he said.
Eggings, vandalism stoke controversy, administration responds EGGINGS
Investigations Editor
tuftsdaily.com
continued from page 1 “It was only three hours since the posters had been put up,” Breza said. “It was intentional because all of the other posters remained in the exact same spot clearly showing that it had been targeting Israeli apartheid week and students of Palestine in particular.” “It was particularly concerning that there was no mention of either Israel, Palestine or Students for Justice in Palestine in the email,” Breza said. “This shows us [SJP] that the administration doesn’t want to talk about Palestine and doesn’t stand up for all of its student members.” In an email reviewed by the Daily, Kevin Kraft, director of community
standards, told a member of SJP that the individual who tore the posters in the first incident had been identified and was a “person with no known Tufts affiliation who was participating in a campus tour.” The email further noted that TUPD was unable to identify the person who tore the posters the second time. The senior administrators wrote that the motivation for the email was to support the victims of the incidents and to restate Tufts’ values they felt that the incidents had violated. “Our campus is a place that welcomes different viewpoints and creates opportunities to engage in constructive dialogue both in and out of the classroom. It is a place where students, faculty, and staff should be able to live,
work, study, and thrive with respect and inclusion,” the email reads. The email placed emphasis on the backgrounds and identities of the victims, though it did not call any of the incidents acts of hate. Mack told the Daily that the response to this type of incident involves many parties and careful deliberation. “We recognize that we’ve [had] to be very reactive as these things happen, and our goal now is to try to be more proactive,” he said. Mack said that the coming addition of two full-time diversity and inclusion educators would help the university prevent such acts in the future, but he said he could not promise that it would be a perfect solution.
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Police Briefs — Week of April 15 by Jenna Fleischer News Editor
On April 9 at 2:22 p.m., Tufts University Police Department ( TUPD) received a report from a student in Latin Way that between 12 a.m. and 9 a.m., someone had stolen leftover food from their suite’s fridge. The individual gained access to the suite through the front door, which was propped open due to a broken lock. TUPD advised the student on the importance of securing all doors, and a locksmith repaired the lock shortly after. On April 10 at 2 a.m., TUPD received a report of suspicious activity from students in Harleston Hall. Students observed another group of students
climb through a window on the first floor of the dorm. TUPD later observed that the window’s security screen was open and the security tabs were removed. TUPD identified the students involved, and the case was referred to the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs. Later that day at 12:50 p.m., a Tufts Dining employee working in DewickMacPhie Dining Center reported that they were being harassed by a nonTufts affiliate who was unhappy with the way the employee cooked the eggs. The employee’s manager was notified, and TUPD is currently advising those involved in the situation. On April 12 at 6:18 p.m., TUPD was dispatched to the intersection of Winthrop Street and Capen Street, where a motor
vehicle accident occurred. An individual ran a stop sign, struck a Tufts employee who was in their personal vehicle and dislodged a fire hydrant. There were no injuries. The Medford Fire and Police Departments also responded and took over the investigation. The individual who struck the vehicle and fire hydrant was cited for failure to stop at a stop sign. On April 14 at 6:58 p.m., TUPD was dispatched to the intersection Winthrop Street and Boston Avenue, where another motor vehicle accident occurred. Two vehicles collided in the middle of the intersection, both sustained visible damage, one vehicle leaked fluids, and one individual sustained minor injuries but left the scene without seeking medical attention. Both vehicles were towed.
News
Thursday, April 18, 2019 | News | THE TUFTS DAILY
Congratulations to the recipients of the 2019 Presidential Award for Civic Life! UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Y
, 2019
School of Arts & Sciences
Her Take:
cosponsored by the Tufts Office of Diversity and Inclusion
(Re)Thinking Masculinity Tuesday, April 23, 11:30am, Cabot 205 Join Photographers Nichole Sobecki (A’08) “afriMAN” Sara Terry “(Re)Thinking the Male Gaze” Linda Bournane Engelberth “Outside the Binary” Their presentations will be followed by a question and answer session. Her Take: (Re)Thinking Masculinity is a project in seven parts by the seven female photographers of VII. Each photographer is undertaking a visual reflection on masculinity — re-framing it, challenging it, referencing it historically, exploring it, considering it in specific cultural contexts and changing social conventions, or coming out from the shadow of it. This project grows from the photographers’ participation in the volatile contemporary debate about gender, power and representation, and the platform that gives them to help build a constructive dialogue in the photography world.
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Thursday, April 18, 2019
Douglas Berger Ripple Effect
Can peace be bought?
Features
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Ethics Bowl provides setting for students to consider real-world ethical issues
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fghanistan appears to be on the brink of profound changes. Recent talks with the Taliban represent the best hope for peace in years. But many remain anxious about the role the Taliban would play in a post-war Afghanistan, especially as these talks have, until recently, excluded the Afghan government. Certainly, the announcement of the annual spring offensive by the Taliban belies any notion that peace will come easily. That the United States is negotiating with an adversary it once vowed to destroy is a sign of flagging political will to continue its nearly two-decade long intervention. Indeed, the U.S. has given hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign aid to Afghanistan, with seemingly little to show for it. So, why hasn’t it worked? Rather than supporting development, we have attempted to buy peace. Aid has been disproportionately distributed to the regions with the most conflict, leaving the most secure provinces also the poorest and least developed. The instinct to try to “win hearts and minds” in areas with a strong Taliban presence is understandable, but it has had disastrous consequences. More than 80% of aid has gone toward short-term projects designed to bolster local security, such as walls around schools or repairs to local irrigation infrastructure. Consequently, long-term economic development and institution building have been neglected. The result: When NATO troops began to pull out in 2011, economic growth plummeted from well over 10% to just 2%, and the poverty rate increased from 36% to 39%. Rather than fostering development, our aid has created reliance. It’s not clear that this aid improved security even in the short term. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) published an internal review of its security ‘stabilization’ program in 2014. It found that in Taliban-controlled villages receiving aid, opinion of the Taliban, rather than the U.S. or the Afghan government, improved. Locals generally believed that the projects must have been approved by the local Taliban militia. The program had the opposite of the desired effect. There’s a certain catch-22 in the way the U.S. provides aid to Afghanistan. USAID had been reluctant to provide aid through an Afghan government in which corruption is endemic. However, the lack of funding means that the government has lacked the resources to combat corruption and build local institutions. Until recently, 90% of all aid was given outside Kabul’s budget. American aid is frequently funneled through international corporations and multiple layers of subcontractors. This has led to inefficiency and higher overhead costs. In 2012, just 30 cents of every dollar that USAID gave went to aid — half the norm for other aid groups like the World Bank. In 2014, the U.S. pledged to provide 50% of its aid directly to the Afghan government. This was never achieved, however. With the security situation deteriorating and the U.S. gearing up to lessen its footprint in the country, the window to build a stronger Afghan state may have passed. And with it, perhaps the change to build lasting peace.
Douglas Berger is a senior studying international relations. Douglas can be reached at douglas.berger@tufts.edu.
COURTESY JEREMY CALDWELL
Members of the Tufts Ethics Bowl team are shown. by Sarah Crawford Staff Writer
Ethics Bowl is a class housed within the Department of Philosophy that is available to students during the fall semester. The course is unique in that it includes an ethics competition between students. According to Susan Russinoff, a senior lecturer in the department which has hosted the Ethics Bowl class since it started six years ago, teams of students study and prepare arguments based on a set of 15 cases written by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics. During competition, judges ask specific questions about the cases, and in teams of five, students explain their viewpoints on the case and critique the other team’s argument. “The class culminates in an ethics bowl on the Tufts campus, which is timed to precede the regional competition, which is typically in late November or early December … Then we send the team that wins our bowl to the regional competition, and in the last four years, we’ve won or come in second, which gives us a spot in the national competition,” Russinoff said. According to Tufts alum and Ethics Bowl coach Abigail Feldman, two Tufts teams did well enough at the regional competition to participate in the national competition, but only one team from each school is allowed to attend nationals. This year, seniors Reece Wallace, Ria Mazumdar, Benjamin Hewitt, Christopher Wingard and Noah Weinflash attended the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl competition in Baltimore, Md. “[ The] teams [at nationals] have thought about these questions so hard
that you don’t have to deal with surface level [thinking] … You get to the really deep philosophical aspects quickly,” Feldman said. “One of the really interesting things about nationals is the cultural and regional differences you encounter … At regionals, you have a lot of New England schools, [and] they’re uniformly left-leaning … so it’s a challenge for us and other teams in this area to go to nationals because when you’re going up against teams from all over the country and being judged by people from all over the country, not everyone comes from the same ideological background,” Wallace said. Second-year graduate student and Ethics Bowl coach Dana Horowitz agreed that an important part of Ethics Bowl is considering the people to which the team is presenting. “An important skill Ethics Bowl teaches you is that you have to know your audience, and when you’re presenting something, [you need to] be aware of what they know and how you can best present information and have it come across in a way that’s clear, concise and meets your goal,” Horowitz said. The cases that Ethics Bowl participants debate include a variety of topics ranging from politics to culture to environmental issues. According to Feldman, the majority of the cases are extremely complex and require students to develop a thoughtful, nuanced view of the case that takes into account multiple arguments. “That’s how all of these cases operate. They tend to pit fundamental values [against] each other and force you to choose in that situation which [value] is more important,” Feldman said.
According to sophomore Sarah Wiener, one of the most interesting cases she’s argued had to do with the question of whether or not being transracial is analogous to being transgender. The case used Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP chapter president who claimed to be African-American despite being of only European descent, as its reference point. “I had a really gut instinct answer of ‘Well of course they’re not analogous, there’s so much history tied to race’ … But the more we started debating the philosophy and the logic of it, it became harder to articulate that … [and] it really forced me to substantiate my beliefs more than a lot of other cases and other philosophical arguments have,” Wiener said. Another case centered on a law which was recently passed in Belgium that requires animals to be stunned prior to their slaughter, which would violate halal and kosher practices. “It’s really interesting [to weigh] religious freedom against animal rights,” Feldman said. Sophomore William Youman highlighted another important aspect of the case regarding the reasoning behind the legislation. “Those … practices were important to a number of Jewish and Muslim people, and no one was sure of the intentionality of that legislation … Does it change if the people who are pushing the [legislation] have bad intentions even if it may create good consequences?” Youman said. In the structure of a typical debate competition, opposing teams are
see ETHICS, page 5
F e at u r e s
Thursday, April 18, 2019 | Features | THE TUFTS DAILY
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Ethics Bowl brings philosophical discussions to greater public ETHICS
continued from page 4 expected take up opposing stances on an issue. However, according to sophomore Indigo Naar, Ethics Bowl is different in the sense that it involves greater collaboration and exploration of the cases being debated. “[Two teams] can agree on an answer to a question and just nitpick the reasons why, and that can foster a really interesting competitive environment because … there’s no showmanship [and] a lot of it is very much authentic,” Naar said. Senior Jeremy Caldwell also emphasized the collaborative nature of Ethics Bowl. “You will never get anywhere in Ethics Bowl by putting your opponent down … You need to focus on the conversation at hand about addressing what’s being said. It’s very much about making people understand [and] not sounding impressive, but understandable,” Caldwell said.
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Ethics Bowl also seeks to make the general subject matter of philosophy more accessible. According to Naar, no formal philosophical knowledge is necessary to participate in the class or the competition. “There’s no real introduction to ethics for Ethics Bowl; you don’t really need that … You can go entire rounds without dropping a single bit of philosophy phrases and have one of the strongest arguments in the bowl. That’s something I really value about the class itself, it doesn’t presuppose any of knowledge of philosophy or of philosophical theory or ethical theory. There’s some advantage to having it, but by no means is it necessary,” Naar said. According to Russinoff, there are no prerequisites for the course, which makes it easier for non-philosophy majors to get involved. “We’re happy that it brings students into the philosophy department who
might not otherwise take a philosophy course,” Russinoff said. Caldwell notes that another unique aspect of Ethics Bowl is that the cases are based in the experiences of real people rather than theory. “[Philosophy] isn’t some intangible thing … It’s rooted in something that someone somewhere is going through, and I think Ethics Bowl does a good job of connecting to that. If you want to learn more about any of the cases, you can find someone talking about how the case has impacted their life,” Caldwell said. Second-year graduate student and Ethics Bowl judge Monika Greco also noted that Ethics Bowl helps to tie philosophical theories into reality. “You can really engage in more grounded discussions about ethical decisions when you’re given situations that are closer to everyday life, and in this case, they’re actually happening,” Greco said.
Part of Ethics Bowl is also recognizing that because philosophy is rooted in everyday life, everyone can engage with philosophy. As part of an initiative started this year by Visual and Critical Studies senior lecturer Hilary Binda, members of Tufts Ethics Bowl have been working with incarcerated students at Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Concord and plan to run an Ethics Bowl competition within the prison in the coming weeks. Naar and Greco have introduced the cases for the competition to the prisoners at MCI-Concord and said that despite many of them not having any formal education in philosophy, they made articulate arguments about the cases. Greco argued that this was an example that anyone can be a philosopher and that the field has been unnecessarily rarefied. “The subject matter of philosophy is the subject matter that people care about. They’re already thinking about it. Questions of philosophy are things everyone is already interested in,” Greco said.
TRASHING ONE EGG WASTES 55 GALLONS OF WATER
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WEEKENDER
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Professor Shapero reads ‘The Lone Acceptable Boston Half Half Application of Daylight’ for lunchtime talk series
Evan Zigmond Out on the Town
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Half Half Half Marathon
have always wanted to attend a ‘joke’ Facebook event. My friends are constantly marking themselves interested in these events, and I always wonder if they are as fun in practice as they are online. Recently, I seized the opportunity by registering for the “Boston Half Half Half Half Half Marathon.” However, the .826-mile race, organized by a local nonprofit called 826 Boston, gave me a much more organized and legitimate event than I bargained for and subsequently exceeded my expectations. 826 Boston provides tutoring and publishing services for Boston’s young, underprivileged writers. I was happy to hear that my entry fee was going to such a noble cause. Aside from this info, I went in blind, hoping to be surprised at whatever they had planned. After my Thursday classes, I suited up in my one running outfit and made my way toward Boston for the race. The Half Half Half Half Half Marathon started at Boston Common, so getting there involved a simple train ride from Davis Square to Park Street. Walking up the steps to leave Park Street station, I felt an odd sense of anticipation for the race, even though I knew it wasn’t meant to be taken too seriously. The air was brisk as I approached the Parkman Bandstand, a gazebo on the Common where sign-ups took place. I was given a bib with a number and instructed to drop my bag in the gazebo. As I waited, many more racers made their appearance, some in silly costumes. The mood was very light; strangers were chatting with one another all around me. I was glad seeing people come together for a good cause. Eventually, we were herded into one specific grass patch, where we were given a few inaugural thank-yous from various people at 826 Boston as well as a short speech from 2018 Boston Marathon champion Desiree Linden. After all the thank-yous, we lined up in front of the starting line and started the race. The route took us through the middle of Boston Common, around its border and back to the gazebo. There were mile markers situated every .1 mile, so one could pace themselves properly. I finished the race out of breath but satisfied at my small feat. I then had the pleasure of watching the other racers cross the finish line in creative and funny ways, in an attempt to secure the “most creative finish-line crossing” award. After everyone had crossed, there was a short, but quite entertaining, award ceremony. “Best Team Costume” went to an extended family in unicorn ears and tutus. “Last Place” went to a man in an animal onesie. The award ceremony was lighthearted and fun, and the other racers seemed to enjoy it, too. I left the race area glad I had taken a chance on what I thought was just a silly Facebook event. In the future, I will definitely have my eye out for such events, as they offer a unique and potentially unforgettable experience. Evan Zigmond is a sophomore studying music. Evan can be reached at evan.zigmond@tufts.edu.
COURTESY OF CLEMENTS PHOTO DESIGN
Harry Dodge’s ‘Works of Love’ installation is pictured. by Daniel Klain
Assistant Arts Editor
On April 10, the Aidekman Arts Center continued its event series for the semester and hosted Tufts Professor of the Practice Natalie Shapero. Currently teaching two courses on poetry at Tufts, Shapero has published multiple collections of poems. Her most recent book, “Hard Child” (2017), made the short list for the International Griffin Poetry Prize. Shapero has also had works published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine and the Boston Review. Inside the Tufts University Art Gallery, Professor Natalie Shapero read a poem titled “The Lone Acceptable Application of Daylight” to an intimately small crowd at lunchtime. Surrounded by pieces of media such as collections of tweets or Facebook posts from Harry Dodge’s exhibit on display, she fittingly read a poem on ‘civil discourse on the internet.’ Shapero’s route to where she is today may seem unorthodox, but to her, it all fits together. As a high schooler, she first became interested in poetry through friends who were writing poetry, but in college she began to study it seriously. In an interview with the Daily, Shapero explained that “taking poetry workshops in college is what really solidified it for [her] as something that [she has] a serious art practice around.” After receiving her bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University, Shapero immediately went on to the Ohio State University to receive her Master’s of Fine Arts. She then followed this up by earning a law degree from University of Chicago. Shapero then spent time as a lawyer working in establishment clause law for an organization called Americans United For Separation of Church and State in Washington, D.C. Shapero shared her thoughts on the intersection between the seemingly disparate fields of poetry and law. “I think [poetry and law] are very related,” Shapero said. “I think that thinking about literature, you ask a lot of questions about language and ambiguity and degrees
of universality, like what the possibilities [are] for multiple meanings in a single piece of text, and that inquiry in statutory construction is the same … I see a lot of resonances between both and been able in to keep a foot in both worlds.” Based off her works at the reading, this seems true. Shapero spoke more to the nature of her poetry. “I’m interested a lot in writing about power dynamics, misuses of power, inequitable distributions of power,” she said. Shapero’s first poem, “The Lone Acceptable Application of Daylight,” is written from the perspective of wealthy Manhattanites looking down on people walking on the chic, modern High Line. Once marketed as urban revitalization, the High Line and its surrounding neighborhood now symbolize a tale of gentrification as corporations and expensive real estate take over the space. Shapero then reads a poem titled “Sunshower.” The poem literally reads different idioms from different cultures to describe the meteorological phenomenon, but includes fictional names for it as well. An excerpt reads: “Some people say the devil is beating his wife. Some people say the devil is pawing his wife. Some people say the devil is doubling down on an overall attitude of entitlement toward the body of his wife.” By mixing the real with the fictional in this poem, Shapero draws on the abusive nature of language, once again highlighting the presence of power structures in different parts of society. In addition to the political pertinence of Shapero’s work, her readings also tie in contemporary feelings of dread or panic, especially as expressed on the internet. Her poem about civil discourse on social media uses language that taps into familiar images or sounds of rage tweets and family members’ didactic Facebook posts. Before she introduces the poem, Shapero connects our conversations online with our mobilization offline, saying that online arguments are essentially the same as going to a march and holding a sign that says “I disagree” next to another person’s sign.
Reading this poem in the foreground of a gallery exhibition focused on the disconnect of modern society due to the internet feels ominous — like the overwhelming fears are really going to prevail — it feels purposeful. Shapero gave insight into her writing process. “I read pretty widely … I take a lot of notes on what I’m reading,” she said. “I don’t tend to sit down and write a draft of a poem until I understand what the trajectory of it will be. A lot of that will come from more free-form note-taking and being attentive to things in different kinds of ways.” Again, her poems reflected this process as she read for her audience this past Wednesday. Most of her poetry is modern in both its structure and topic. Two or three lines will pair together well before the subject redirects, yet overall the poems tie together to convey a larger theme or tone. Shapero’s poems also contain a level of compartmentalization. While she was able to emphasize her feelings at the reading since she was reading them aloud, they were never really about herself. Based on the inflections in her tone, hints of pain, disgust or even humor lingered as Shapero read aloud. Shapero shared how she balances her personality with her poetry. “I think of my work as a separate sphere from my own biography … Part of that is in order to preserve my work as something that is its own realm,” she said. Impressively, Shapero separates herself from her art and is still able to get across opinions in her work, or at least to highlight things she finds interesting. As a full-time professor of the practice at Tufts, Shapero finds that her craft and her job go together pretty well. “Teaching and writing are a lot of the same practice for me,” she said. “A lot of the questions that are on my mind, I am able to bring those into the classroom … bring students into those questions, and students have really generative insights often.” At the end of the reading, the crowd applauded Shapero. Despite somber talk of dread and abuse of power, it’s clear that the audience connected with Shapero’s words over the course of the lunchtime reading.
Thursday, April 18, 2019 | FUN & GAMES | THE TUFTS DAILY
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F &G FUN & GAMES
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LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Elie: “It’s going to fade like vapor from a Juul.”
SUDOKU
LINDA C. BLACK ASTROLOGY
Aries (March 21–April 19)
Accept or offer assistance. More hands make lighter work. Have patience with misunderstandings. Work out a structural challenge together. Keep your part of the bargain.
Difficulty Level: Submitting to the publisher after the deadline.
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Ria Mazumdar Peripheries
The Relevance of Reparations
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n 2014, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ incisive piece in the Atlantic entitled “The Case for Reparations” triggered a national conversation. He noted that the income gap between black and white households has been roughly unchanged since 1970, and that roughly 4% of whites compared to 62% of blacks across America had been raised in poor neighborhoods. Due to ongoing discriminatory policies on top of the obvious historical consequences of slavery, black Americans continue to face unspeakable levels of spatial segregation and economic oppression. Reparations are being increasingly discussed in the 2020 Democratic field. Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Julián Castro have endorsed the concept; in contrast, Bernie Sanders has called them “divisive.” Although it would certainly be divisive to seize the assets of white families, particularly in the South, it is important to at least revisit the concept of reparations and seriously consider the lack of redistributive justice in American society. Atoning for the past is a resurgent theme outside of American politics as well. Mexico has demanded an apology from Spain, India from England, the Congo from Belgium. However, apologies without material change have symbolic value, but are insufficient. There may be several issues with the implementation of reparations, such as proving one’s ancestry or the moral duty to offer subsequent reparations to other marginalized groups including indigenous peoples. However, we have not even gotten there yet; our politicians have stifled the discussion from beginning in the first place. John Conyers’ bill, H.R. 40 (the Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act) has never even made it to the House floor. It is becoming increasingly important to address the issue head-on. We cannot pretend that poverty in America is not racialized. As Ta-Nehisi Coates writes, “To pretend that the problems of a dual society are the same as the problems of unregulated capitalism, is to cover the sin of national plunder with the sin of national lying.” We cannot continue to throw around the word “intersectionality” while simultaneously discussing “the poor” as a monolithic group. This conversation should not occur at the federal level alone. Even if perfect national legislation is passed, that will not suffice to shift local social fabric and consciousness. Advocacy within communities is critical in raising awareness and cultivating an understanding of how past atrocities specifically relate to current social groups. Georgetown University students just voted in favor of establishing a fund at their university to pay reparations to slave descendants given the founders’ history of selling slaves. Similar initiatives should be raised on other campuses and in other cities as well. Regardless of the specific reparations policy in question, we should encourage this conversation openly on national and local stages. Coates concisely writes, “Reparations would mean the end of scarfing hot dogs on the Fourth of July while denying the facts of our heritage … Wrestling publicly with these questions matters as much as — if not more than — the specific answers that might be produced.” Ria Mazumdar is a junior studying quantitative economics and international relations. Ria can be reached at ria.mazumdar@tufts.edu.
Opinion
Thursday, April 18, 2019
OP-ED
Students demand #HaltTheHike Dear Students and Families of Tufts University, On April 16, Tufts sent an email to students and families announcing a 3.8% increase in tuition for next year, meaning tuition and associated expenses, including books and personal expenses, will total $73,818. Year after year, we have seen this cost increase, and if these trends continue, first-years will pay $81,374 for attendance their senior year. We know that the university has no plan to stop these increases in the foreseeable future, and we cannot afford to stand by as the price unjustifiably rises in this way. Students demand that the Board of Trustees and administration halt the hike. The deans sent an email bragging about their record-breaking budget for financial aid, but students on financial aid know that their financial need has never been fully met, and that as tuition costs increase, so do their loan packages. With such high tuition, some financial aid goes to low-income students, but the majority of the 35% of Tufts students who are on financial aid come from middle- and upper-middle class families able to pay a large portion of the cost. Low-income students experience social stratification and social isolation as a result of being from families who require significant aid to attend Tufts. Even when the students are admitted, many of these families cannot
afford to pay the expected family contribution that Tufts assigns to them without going into unimaginable debt. Students have to take two or three jobs, on top of schoolwork, and sign loans they know will complicate decisions about their futures in order to stay enrolled as tuition increases year to year. Since before 2015, student activists have raised concerns with the administration about the rising cost of tuition and the lack of transparency around the budgeting process that goes into deciding the increase. The administration has responded with deflective and misleading language that they share during “budget town hall” meetings. These events serve to normalize their annual pricetag increase while student stories of the effects of such increases remain unheard. Fundraising campaigns continue to prioritize financing of capital projects, but financial aid for low-income students is sidelined despite the fact that these students pay into the university’s endowment. According to Tufts Labor Coalition (TLC), in on-campus labor disputes, Tufts often cites the university’s financial strain as their reason for not paying workers fairly. When students and workers have organized together for higher wages and better healthcare in the past, the administration has claimed that they can’t accommodate lower tuition and higher pay for workers
simultaneously. TLC completely rejects this sentiment — we will not let Tufts pit students and workers against each other. The university needs to align its financial priorities with its advertised values: the well-being of members of the Tufts community. TLC demands that Tufts #HaltTheHike, because at an institution with a $1.89 billion endowment, no community member should feel financially burdened. The tides of higher education are turning, with students across the nation calling attention to the student-debt crisis. As people in power are beginning to see the need for free public education for all, we demand Tufts halt this trend of excluding low-income students from private universities. We demand that the Board of Trustees and administration reverse the 2019–2020 tuition increase now, and we invite all students, alumni, faculty, staff and Tufts families to sign our petition to the administration to stop this unjust pricing scheme. Signed, Tufts Student Action Tufts Labor Coalition Tufts Housing League Tufts Asian Student Coalition Association of Latin American Students If your organization is interested in signing onto the petition, please email karen. ruiz_moreno@tufts.edu.
CARTOON
Four years
BY NASRIN LIN
The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community. The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board. EDITORIALS Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily. OP-EDS The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. The Daily welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community; the opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length and submitted to opinion@tuftsdaily.com. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. Authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions. ADVERTISING All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the Editor-in-Chief, Executive Board and Executive Business Director.
Opinion
Thursday, April 18, 2019 | Opinion | THE TUFTS DAILY
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I’VE NEVER UNDERSTOOD WHY MY HUMAN WON’T LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT HER LEASH. I THINK SHE’S AFRAlD OF GETTING LOST. BUT IT’S OK, I KIND OF LIKE SHOWING HER AROUND. — HARPER adopted 08-18-09
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Sports
Thursday, April 18, 2019 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY
Tufts ends 14 game home stand 11–3
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Arjun Balaraman Off the Crossbar
The Old-School Striker
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EVAN SLACK / THE TUFTS DAILY
First-year infielder Peter DeMaria jogs to first base after earning a walk during Tufts’ 24–6 win over Mass. Maritime on March 27.
the Jumbos tied the game up at one run apiece in the bottom half of the frame when Cortese scored on a walk. Cortese talked about his stretch of strong play this past weekend. “I was seeing the ball real well all weekend,” Cortese said. “I was just sticking with my approach the entire season. I am sticking with the program that the coaches have put in place … If I do my job at the plate, the guy behind me is going to do his job and down the entire lineup those guys are going to continue to do their jobs, get on base, get that 90 feet. That is basically the whole principle of Tufts baseball.” The Jumbos took the lead in the third inning on an RBI single by Cortese to score Santos-Ocampo and continued the scoring later in the inning when DeMaria scored to take a 3–1 lead. The Polar Bears came back strong and scored four runs in the fifth inning to take a 5–3 lead. Cortese was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Mills in the seventh inning, and Day walked later in the frame with the bases loaded to score Bay and tie the game at five runs apiece. The Polar Bears took the lead in the ninth inning, but the Jumbos came away with a walkoff victory when Cortese and first-year infielder/outfielder Miles Reid scored on an error by the Polar Bears to secure a 7–6 win for the Jumbos. Cortese spoke about his team’s methodology when approaching their at-bats.
“Our approach the entire time is trying to get quality at-bats, whether [that is] be walking, getting hit by a pitch, working long counts [or doing] anything to get on base. It is so important for us.” On April 9, Tufts fell to Roger Williams 8–5 in its third loss of the season. The Hawks scored first with two runs in the second inning, but the Jumbos took back the lead in the fourth inning. Schnepf tied the game in the inning on a two-run double to score Burgess and Cortese, and Shackelford took the lead for the Jumbos on an RBI double to score Schnepf. Mills continued the scoring in the inning for the Jumbos with a two-run home run to score Shackelford, putting the Jumbos up 5–2 after four. The Hawks hit a grand slam in the sixth inning to take a 6–5 lead, and they added an insurance run in both the eighth and ninth innings to win 8–5. Varinos talked about the value of the team’s long home stretch. “It was nice starting off playing a lot of games at home,” Varinos said. “Obviously, we love our home field. We love playing in front of our home fans and our family, so I think it was definitely good for us. We really were able to build some momentum coming back up north from the trip.” The Jumbos start a 10-game road stretch with a game against Colby at 4 p.m. this Friday.
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continued from back page Jumbos in this game with an RBI single to score DeMaria and put the Jumbos up by a final score of 16–0. In the first game of the doubleheader, the Jumbos won a hard-fought game against the Polar Bears, 5–4. Bowdoin scored two runs in the first inning to start off strong, but Tufts answered with two runs of its own to tie the game at two runs apiece after one inning. The Polar Bears scored again in the second and fourth inning to go up 4–2. The Jumbos started their comeback in the fifth inning with two solo home runs by Mills and Cortese to tie the game at four. Varinos hit the game-winning run on an RBI triple to score Shackelford to put the Jumbos up 5–4, completing the come-from-behind win for the Jumbos. Junior pitcher Brent Greeley started the game on the mound for the Jumbos, throwing one inning and giving up three runs on two hits. First-year pitcher Brendan McFall earned his first win of the season, throwing five relief innings of one-run ball on two hits and three strikeouts. First-year pitcher Tucker picked up his second save of the season, giving up no runs and striking out two batters in his inning of work to secure the 5–4 win for the Jumbos. Tufts first played Bowdoin on April 13, winning another close game by a 7–6 scoreline. The Polar Bears scored struck first in the second inning, but
iverpool hosted Chelsea in the headline clash of the English Premier League (EPL) this weekend. The Reds looked to avoid another literal slip-up, exorcising the demons of their failed title run in 2014. With Chelsea embroiled in a ferocious battle for the top four and Liverpool in the midst of a grueling title charge, the match was billed as one of the biggest of the season, and it did not disappoint. In a thoroughly open, entertaining affair, the Reds held out for a 2–0 victory. Yet, there was something distinctly missing from both teams’ starting lineups: neither featured true strikers. Chelsea deployed star winger Eden Hazard through the middle, as coach Maurizio Sarri opted to leave World Cup winner Olivier Giroud and Gonzalo Higuaín on the bench. Hazard’s natural position is out on the left; the Belgian thrives when he has space and grass to attack opposing defenses. With Giroud and Higuaín in poor form, Sarri decided to play without a recognized striker. The plan didn’t work. Hazard was alone up front too often and began to wander out wide just to get touches on the ball, so no one was in the middle to score off the crosses Chelsea put into the box. Only after going two goals down did Sarri bring Higuaín off the bench. This substitution allowed Hazard to move to his preferred position out left while Higuaín occupied the center. The switch instantly made a difference. Chelsea’s two best chances of the night came soon after the Argentinian’s introduction. Hazard could make beautiful runs behind Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold and created two gilted opportunities that, on another day, he surely would have finished. On the other side, Liverpool started Roberto Firmino, their Brazilian energizer bunny. While Firmino has been leading the line for Liverpool for a couple of seasons now, he is best known for his work ethic, keen positional awareness and link-up play. He is a perfect example of the term ‘false nine,’ which is used to describe this new set of attacking midfielders/wingers who are now deployed centrally. Spain popularized the use of the ‘false nine’ during its successful Euro 2012 campaign when central midfielder Cesc Fabregas was often the furthest one forward for La Furia Roja. It was a stark change from the earlier 2000s, when the game was dominated by central strikers like Ronaldo (Il Fenomeno), Raul and Miroslav Klose — out-and-out strikers who found pay dirt mainly in the box. Unlike Firmino, these men were not expected to drop back and help out their team. They had one job: to score goals. Nothing else mattered. These were the kinds of players who would be angry if their team won, and they did not score. With more teams shifting towards using one of their more diminutive, flair players in a central roles, something has to be said for the old-fashioned center forwards. There are only a few left in today’s game: think Robert Lewandowski, Edinson Cavani or Benzema. But, goals do win games, and the poaching strikers may yet make a comeback.
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Arjun Balaraman is a sophomore studying quantitative economics. Arjun can be reached at arjun.balaraman@tufts.edu.
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Sports
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Men’s Tennis tops Trinity, falls to Williams and Middlebury in season run-in by Tim Chiang
Assistant Sports Editor
The No. 18 Tufts Jumbos (5–7, 1–4 NESCAC) suffered their second straight 5–4 loss in the final set to No. 10 Williams on April 7 after falling to No. 5 Wesleyan by the same score the week prior. Tufts bounced back on Wednesday, April 10 by downing Trinity 9–0 before losing to No. 8 Middlebury 6–3 on Saturday. The Jumbos kicked off the match against Middlebury by sweeping doubles play to surge to a 3–0 lead. Sophomore Niko Hereford and junior co-captain Ethan Bershtein were first on the scoreboard after closing out Middlebury junior Alekandr Samets and sophomore Andre Xiao at No. 3 doubles, 8–3. Then at No. 2 doubles, the sophomore duo of Carl-Herman “CHG” Grant and Boris Sorkin continued to build on the Jumbos’ momentum by defeating Lubomir Cuba and Nate Eazor, 8–6. The Middlebury Panthers were sinking their teeth into a win of their own as Noah Farrell and Peter Martin stepped up to serve for the match at 7–6 in No. 2 doubles. But sophomore Jason Scanlon and first-year Paris Pentousis dug deep to break back and emerge victorious, 8–6. Scanlon noted the importance in making returns of serve to come back for the victory. “At 7–6, they broke my serve, and Peter Martin was serving for the match.” Scanlon said. “He had the stronger serve among the two players. It was all about making the return and making them play the point.” Scanlon made his debut in the starting lineup this season against Trinity and Middlebury. The Barrington, R.I. native emphasized the importance of fundamentals and team spirit. “Playing Trinity before Middlebury was key,” Scanlon said. “Getting a good doubles match in helped settled my nerves a little bit. It was me and Paris’ first time playing together, but we really came together that day. We really wanted the win, and that was the energy across all three courts in doubles. The keys to our victory were keeping our shots simple, making them earn it, and implementing things we do in practice every day.” Despite playing extraordinarily in doubles, the Jumbos suffered a tough loss to Middlebury after losing all six singles matches, with two of the contests stretching to three sets.
Coach Karl Gregor stressed how the team would have benefitted from greater urgency to build upon their 3–0 lead. “Unfortunately, Middlebury played really well in all six singles matches, which is pretty rare,” Gregor said. “There wasn’t much we could’ve done, but we could’ve had more urgency to push hard early in singles to get a match or a few more sets. If you’re up 4–0 vs. 3–0, the lead seems insurmountable. You never know who’s going to win at which position, so you can’t expect people pick up the slack. We can play with more urgency.” Although Tufts has endured several tough losses against higher ranked NESCAC opponents, including Wesleyan and No. 7 Amherst, Gregor is optimistic heading into the latter half of the season. “I don’t feel like it’s gotten them down,” said Gregor. “If we beat Colby and Bates and get to the NESCAC tournament, we get one more shot at all of these teams. If we’re able to get everyone peaking by early May, we can win not only one but take down a few teams and get an outside shot to even win NESCACs.” Scanlon added to the positive sentiment. “Going up 3–0 against Middlebury was pretty amazing,” Scanlon said. “It made us feel like we belonged with them and could beat the No. 2 [now No. 8] team in the country. It changed our perspective in the way we perceive ourselves. In singles, everyone fought on every court, and it didn’t reflect our performance as a team. We know we can compete with the best of the best.” On April 10 against Trinity, the Jumbos blanked the Bantams 9–0. Players like Sorkin, Kamin and Shaff made quick work of unranked Trinity. First-year Jack Moldenhauer clinched the win for Tufts at No. 5 singles, beating Trinity’s Charles Kilborn 6–1, 6–0. On April 7, Tufts displayed a valiant effort against No. 10 Williams, coming back from a 3–0 deficit out of doubles play to level the match at 4–4. Sorkin, Pentousis, first-year Isaac Gorelik and first-year Jack Moldenhauer all notched impressive victories in straight sets. But Tufts fell just short as junior Ben Biswas fell in the final set, 5–7, 6–3, 6–3. Though the match ended in a loss for Tufts, it was another display of the Jumbos’ potential to compete among the top 10 teams in the country. On Saturday, the Jumbos are
BEN KIM /THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES
Junior Jason Scanlon prepares to return a shot during a doubles match in the men’s tennis home game against Bowdoin at the Voute Tennis Courts on April 28, 2018. back in action in a doubleheader at home on the Voute Tennis Courts against Connecticut College and No. 32 MIT. Tufts will then face off against Colby on the road on Sunday in another key NESCAC matchup. The Jumbos will be the higher ranked team heading into their series of matches this weekend, but Scanlon detailed the importance of never underestimat-
ing an opponent. “We treat every match the same, no matter what team,” Scanlon said. “We’ll be hungry for a win. We’re going to learn from these past three matches. We’re going to fight hard on every single court and don’t let up. We’re going to treat every match like were playing a Middlebury — [like] we are the underdogs.”
Tufts baseball ends their long home stretch on high note by Jacob Dreyer Staff Writer
The Tufts Jumbos finished their 14-game home stand strong against the Roger Williams Hawks, Bowdoin Polar Bears and UMass Dartmouth Corsairs. The Jumbos went 4–1 in these four games, completing an 11–3 home stretch to improve their overall record to 19–5 (6–2 NESCAC). After losing to Roger Williams on April 9, Tufts finished strong, defeating Bowdoin three times and ending its run at home against UMass Dartmouth on April 16, winning 9–4. The Jumbos exploded for six runs in the bottom of the first inning against the Corsairs on Tuesday. Junior out-
fielder Justin Mills singled home junior infielder Elias Varinos with the first run of the game, and Mills later scored with senior outfielder Casey SantosOcampo on a RBI double by sophomore infielder Kyle Cortese, putting the Jumbos up 3–0. Varinos spoke to the Jumbos’ quick start to the game. “You want to come out in the first inning, and you really want to jump on them quickly,” Varinos said. “It sets the tone for the rest of the game. It was nice today to score first, and … I think the first inning was a great all-around effort.” The Corsairs scored a run in the top of the second inning to cut the lead to 6–1, but the Jumbos quickly responded with a run of their own in the inning
on an RBI double by Cortese to score Santos-Ocampo, bringing the lead back to six at 7–1. The Jumbos added another run in the inning on an RBI single by first-year infielder Peter DeMaria to score Cortese, putting the Jumbos up 8–1 after two innings. The Corsairs attempted a comeback, scoring two times in the third inning and once in the fourth to cut the lead to 8–4. The Jumbos prevented the Corsairs from scoring again for the rest of the game, and they added another run of their own in the seventh inning when Mills scored to put the finishing touches on a 9–4 victory for the Jumbos. On April 14, Tufts faced off against Bowdoin in a doubleheader. In the second of these two games, the Jumbos
blanked the Polar Bears 16–0. The offense came early and often in the game, as Santos-Ocampo hit a two-run home run in the second inning to score Shackelford and put the Jumbos up 6–0 after two innings. In the third inning, senior catcher Eric Schnepf got an RBI to score DeMaria, and Mills got an RBI single to score Day to increase the lead to 8–0 after three. The Jumbos concluded their scoring with three runs in the sixth inning. Junior outfielder J.P. Knight started the scoring in the inning with a two-run double, scoring Mills and Burgess. Sophomore outfielder Brandon Bay concluded the scoring for the
see BASEBALL, page 11